Arrest of Roger Mariaca
2026 arrests of Bolivia's attorney general and other officials
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On the night of 30 September 2026, Bolivian police arrested Attorney General Roger Mariaca at Viru Viru International Airport near Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Over the following hours, police detained 14 people in total in Santa Cruz, La Paz and Sucre, including other senior prosecutors. The government of President Rodrigo Paz said the operation had dismantled a criminal organization embedded in the country's justice system and Public Prosecutor's Office. Officials accused Mariaca of leading the group and using it to protect drug traffickers, and said he was under investigation for organized crime, money laundering and drug trafficking.[1][2] Mariaca denied the allegations, and the Public Prosecutor's Office described his arrest as a "kidnapping".[3]
The arrests came two days after the United States Department of State publicly designated Mariaca for involvement in "significant corruption" and restricted the visas of twelve other Bolivians.[4] They also followed the circulation of a police video, recorded when Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset was captured in March 2026, in which Marset calls Mariaca a friend.[5] Mariaca said the U.S. action was political pressure linked to his office's investigation of the Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, a former adviser to Paz.[6] Former president Evo Morales and other critics made similar claims of foreign interference, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the arrests as action against narcotrafficking and corruption.[7]
The arrests set off a dispute over who leads the Public Prosecutor's Office, with a senior prosecutor declaring himself interim attorney general and the government refusing to recognize him. As of 2 October, Mariaca remained in police custody, prosecutors were preparing formal charges, his lawyers had challenged the legality of his detention, and the Legislative Assembly was meeting to consider the case.[8]
Background
Mariaca and the Public Prosecutor's Office
Roger Mariaca Montenegro, a lawyer born in Santa Cruz in 1987, served as departmental prosecutor of Santa Cruz before becoming attorney general.[9] The Legislative Assembly appointed him in October 2024 to a six-year term with the support of more than two-thirds of its members, at a time when the Movement for Socialism (MAS) dominated the chamber.[10] The Assembly retains the power to elect and remove the attorney general.[11]
Sebastián Marset
Sebastián Marset, a Uruguayan wanted by Paraguay since February 2022 and indicted in the United States on money laundering charges, had operated for years in Bolivia.[12] He evaded a police raid on his home in Santa Cruz in July 2023.[13] Police captured him in Santa Cruz on 13 March 2026 in a morning raid involving hundreds of officers, and he was transferred to U.S. custody within days.[14][12]
Cerimedo investigation
Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine political consultant, worked on Javier Milei's 2023 presidential campaign and later became a consultant to Paz. He acknowledged a friendship with Paz but denied having held government office or influenced the government.[15][16]
Cerimedo was arrested on 18 August 2026 at Viru Viru airport as he tried to fly to Buenos Aires, a day after an armed attack on his former partner, the lawyer Nadia Beller.[17] Prosecutors charged him with attempted femicide, alleging he was the intellectual author of the attack, and a judge ordered 180 days of pretrial detention. His lawyer called the case a "political show".[15][18] He was later transferred from Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz to the maximum-security Chonchocoro prison near La Paz under a second order in a separate illicit enrichment case.[19]
Mariaca's office was handling these proceedings. After the United States acted against him, he cited the Cerimedo investigation as a possible reason, saying his cases had implications beyond Bolivia.[3][20]
U.S.–Bolivian security cooperation
Paz took office in November 2025, ending nearly two decades of MAS dominance, and moved to warm relations with Washington. His government resumed cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in February 2026; Morales had expelled the agency in 2008.[2][14] In March 2026, Paz attended the inaugural Shield of the Americas summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in Miami, where participants announced a regional coalition against drug cartels, transnational organized crime and narcoterrorism.[21]
U.S. visa restrictions and designation
On 28 September 2026, the State Department announced visa restrictions on nationals of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, all participants in the Shield of the Americas, citing commitments made at the summit and in a 22 September leaders' statement. The measures covered twelve Bolivians and their families, and the department separately designated Mariaca for his involvement in significant corruption.[4] The State Department said he had solicited and accepted bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking and helped violent criminals evade justice.[7] In total, 27 officials, former officials and family members across the four countries were affected.[6]
Mariaca denied the accusations and called the decision political pressure related to his investigations. He said he would continue them.[6] Prosecutors Alberto Zeballos and Martín Irusta, later arrested, were also among the Bolivians affected.[22]
Arrests
Operation
Mariaca and Zeballos, the Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor, were arrested at Viru Viru airport on the night of 30 September after arriving from Sucre. Police later took them to the La Paz area.[23] Police also raided the Public Prosecutor's Office headquarters in Sucre and offices in Santa Cruz and La Paz.[7] Prosecutors said masked officers entered the Sucre building.[5]
According to the government, 14 people were arrested in Santa Cruz, La Paz and Sucre. They included Mariaca, Zeballos, the senior prosecutor Martín Daniel Irusta Flores, police officer Rubén Aparicio Villarroel and other prosecutors' office employees.[2] Irusta had previously been a lawyer for Morales.[24] Mabel Andrade became interim Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor.[11]
Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo said "a criminal organization entrenched in the justice system has been dismantled".[7] He said it was headed by Mariaca and had protected and facilitated drug trafficking, and that Mariaca faced accusations of organized crime, money laundering and trafficking of controlled substances.[25][1]
Seizure of cash
Oviedo said four people were caught in the early hours of 1 October trying to remove cash from Mariaca's residence in an ambulance, and the government released video of police removing banknotes from the vehicle's panels.[7] Authorities reported finding 3,532,100 bolivianos and US$10,000;[26] AFP put the total at about US$300,000.[7] Oviedo alleged the money was proceeds of extortion. The allegation was part of the investigation and had not been adjudicated.[2]
Marset recordings
Hours after the arrests, Bolivian police released a video recorded on 13 March 2026, shortly after Marset's capture. An officer says Mariaca is calling, and Marset replies that Mariaca is his friend and that he speaks with him.[5][27] The Public Prosecutor's Office had denied the previous day that Mariaca met Marset before his extradition and asked for evidence.[28]
A separate audio attributed to Marset, aired by the program No Mentirás, refers to payments to former Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo, nicknamed "Sonia", through a go-between named Aparicio. In it, the voice says he paid US$500,000 to stay in Bolivia.[29] News outlets reported that the authenticity of the audio and the statements attributed to Marset had not been officially confirmed.[29][9]
Oviedo also alleged that Marset had been detained in 2023, while Mariaca was Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor, then quickly released, and that seized assets were returned to him.[2]
Eduardo del Castillo
Del Castillo was interior minister under President Luis Arce and a MAS presidential candidate in 2025.[30] Several Bolivian outlets reported overnight that police had arrested him in La Paz. On 1 October, Oviedo said he was not in custody, was being sought and that results were expected "in the coming hours".[31]
Legal proceedings
Challenges to the arrests
The Public Prosecutor's Office initially described Mariaca's arrest as a kidnapping and questioned its legality.[3] Anti-drug prosecutor Miguel Gonzales told the Associated Press that Mariaca had been detained without a warrant. The government maintained that the operation was lawful and supported by an ongoing criminal investigation.[2] Irusta's lawyer, Alberth Burthon, called his client's arrest illegal and argued that the requirement of flagrante delicto had not been met.[32]
On 1 October, Mariaca, Zeballos and Irusta filed an acción de libertad, a constitutional remedy against unlawful detention, naming Paz, Oviedo and national police commander Adrián Javier Álvarez. It was filed with the Third Constitutional Chamber of the La Paz Departmental Court of Justice, with a hearing set for 08:30 on 2 October.[33][34] Irusta's lawyer said a second action had been filed in Santa Cruz.[32] Their lawyer Jerjes Justiniano argued the arrests violated fundamental rights and that, if a criminal structure existed within the prosecutor's office, the legal procedure for prosecuting the attorney general should have been followed.[26]
Charges and custody
Mariaca invoked his constitutional right to remain silent when questioned by the anti-narcotics police force (FELCN) and prosecutors in La Paz. Prosecutors said they expected to file formal charges on 2 October and to request pretrial detention, citing risk of flight and obstruction.[35] His lawyer Romel Ipamo said the defense would cooperate and asked only that due process be respected.[36]
Defense Minister Ernesto Justiniano said Bolivia had not received a U.S. extradition request for Mariaca but did not rule one out. He said the government expected Washington to share its evidence.[26]
Dispute over leadership of the Public Prosecutor's Office
After Mariaca's arrest, the Public Prosecutor's Office announced his "definitive absence" and said Luis Whaner Montaño Morales, a superior prosecutor for organized crime and the most senior by length of service, had assumed the post of attorney general on an interim basis.[1][37]
The government rejected this. Oviedo said an interim attorney general could not be self-appointed and that the Assembly, which elects the attorney general, must decide.[38] Presidential spokesman José Luis Gálvez accused Montaño of usurping functions, said he had tried to remove the prosecutors in charge of the cases against the detainees, and warned that he could be arrested.[39] Manolo Rojas, chair of the Assembly's justice commission, called Montaño's assumption of the post void.[40] The lawyer Frank Campero argued that Mariaca legally remained attorney general because only the Assembly can remove him and he had not resigned.[41]
Legislative Assembly
Senate president Diego Ávila, acting as head of the Assembly while Vice President Edmand Lara was in Spain, moved a session originally set for 5 October up to 2 October. The agenda covered official reports on the arrests and the institutional, legal and constitutional issues they raised.[42] Lara, who had called the original session to discuss the U.S. visa measures, said the Assembly could neither arbitrarily remove Mariaca nor directly name a replacement, and called for due process.[37] At the time of writing, the Assembly's decision had not been reported.
Role of the United States
The arrests occurred amid expanding U.S.–Bolivian security cooperation. After the arrests, Rubio wrote that the Trump administration "stands firmly" with Paz and praised the government's "bold and decisive actions" against narcotrafficking, systemic corruption and transnational organized crime.[7][43]
Oviedo said the operation was carried out by Bolivian police under the supervision of prosecutors and that it took place with the cooperation of the U.S. government.[7] He denied reports that the DEA had taken part in the arrests or flown the detainees to Lima.[44] Some outlets reported that the operation had DEA support, and Spanish media said the investigation had drawn on DEA information.[10][3] As of 2 October, there was no confirmed transfer of Mariaca to U.S. custody.[23]
Reactions
Mariaca and the Public Prosecutor's Office rejected the accusations as political, and Mariaca said the Cerimedo investigation would continue.[6] Evo Morales said the arrests confirmed that "the United States governs Bolivia" and argued they were meant to protect Cerimedo and, through him, Paz and his family.[24] He said he was convinced the DEA had intervened.[45] The government rejected the claims of foreign direction of the operation.[44]
Some opposition figures and Mariaca's supporters questioned the circumstances of the arrests and called for due process,[3] while the opposition politician Samuel Doria Medina said he would support Paz if he acted likewise against corrupt figures close to the government.[46] The arrests intensified debate over Bolivia's renewed security relationship with the United States.[3]